Meet the Team

Our staff are a creative bunch. They all love what they do and we love what they produce.
We hate Friday's and love Monday's!

Melissa Cooke
Melissa is a Director of Starex who manages accounts, staffing & co-ordinates key projects within the business. She likes to have lots of fun at work, enjoys working with the great Starex team. She loves being a mum of 3 beautiful girls & 2 furry friend spaniel boys. She has a keen interest in natural health, laughs lots (and loudly) & snorts occasionally!

Matt Cooke
Matt is the Managing Director of Starex. He wears a lot of hats around the factory ranging from site visits, designing and quoting products, overseeing production, staffing & working on the floor. He loves playing y & his favourite team is Tottenham Hotspur. He enjoys being at home with family & reading historical novels.

Jenny Boyle
Jenny is a long time local of Mt Maunganui and is another Director, also Melissa’s Mum & Matt's Mum in law. Her job is to take care of all things financial & keep the team on track. Life outside Starex revolves around family & thanks to Melissa & her brother Todd she has 6 amazing grandchildren (soon to be 7). She loves watching "Coro" & researching family history.

Haydn Boyle
Haydn is also one of the Directors & Melissa's Dad. He's a mad keen sports fan, if the Kiwis are playing he’ll be watching. Has always been very community minded, belongs to the local Lions club & helped set-up Camp Quality in NZ 30 years ago. Music (especially jazz) is a passion as are his children & grandies. Haydn is never far away from a crossword or sudoku.

Amanda Neve
Amanda works in our office & is excited about her new career at Starex. She has 2 children aged 21 and 20. Since having children herself she has been a nanny for local families in the bay, including Matt & Melissa's family who love her to bits. She is an amazing baker & Amanda & her husband Tim enjoy taking walks on the weekends with their 2 Jack Russells Milli and Badger.

Heike Moegle
Heike is our Factory Manager & ensures our factory runs smoothly. Born in Germany where she also studied Cabinet Making, she gained her 3 year apprenticeship, followed up by her 2 year Masters. She loves to travel 'backpacker' style, cook & eat GOOD food, gardening, dance, party & regular yoga classes. What we love about her most is she is always so happy!

Karl Martin
Karl is our Joinery Manager & has been working with us for 8 years. He wears the best woolly hats as Pixie his wife is the craftiest lady out there! He has a very busy household with 6 children & 6 cats and spends a lot of his spare time fixing the kids bikes. Pixie has knitted him a special woolly jumper for the Starex photoshoot.

Leon Vincent
Leon is our Starex’asaurus’. He has been with Starex for 18 years & manages our very busy Engineering Department. No problem is too big or too small for Leon, he always comes up with a way to make things work! Leon has two children, a daughter and a son who is a pilot. In his spare time he rejuvenates old clocks & watches and loves reading anything historical.

Shaun Singers
Shaun manages the finishing of all of our products to a very high standard, he is very fussy too which we think is great! He has lived in the Mount most of his life. He loves music, plays guitar & certainly knows his stuff when it comes to the latest trends, celebrities, red carpet dresses & who's dating who! We call him the "David Hartnell" of Starex.

Heinz Reibstirn
Heinz (otherwise known as Baked Beans) has 37 years’ experience in the trade. The joinery department, he says, ‘it’s the place where all the ideas of the customers & design team are put into their final shape’. In his spare time he enjoys the outdoors, bushwalks & camping in out of way places. He has a son who is a 3D Automation & Visual Effects artist.

Pete Mackay
Pete runs our very busy despatch department, luckily he used to be a courier driver in Auckland so is used to the fast pace, high pressure environment that despatch is on a daily basis. He was born in Huntly & raised on a dairy farm in Waikato. He loves the outdoors & swimming in summertime with his 2 boys aged 12 and 1.

Peter Crowder
Peter is our Starex spring chicken & has recently joined our Engineering Department. He grew up in Matamata & when he left school he wanted to be an architect. We are so pleased he changed his mind & studied Furniture Making & Design in Palmerston North. He is now living in the Mount & enjoys all sports, playing tennis, surfing & volleyball just to name a few.

Joseph Green
Joseph works in our Joinery department & really doesn't like having his photo taken. He loves the outdoors & does a lot of bushwalking and gardening for fun, that's not to say he doesn't have fun at work of course! Apart from his 3 children, he has a soft spot for dogs, especially his 16 year old Labrador called Kaytee.

Bruce Murrell
Bruce works at Starex as an engineer & enjoys making the steel components that Starex provide to Early Childhood centres nationwide. He is married to a wonderful baker, Philippa & they have 3 awesome boys Riley, Cooper & Ollie. He loves taking the boys fishing, biking and on family outings for a walk around the Mount with an icecream reward afterwards.

Angela Pearce
Angela is our Auckland based representative who buzzes around Auckland with a love of life. Born and bred in Auckland she has 3 beautiful grown up sons and a cat named Seb (short for Sebastian). She used to work in sales for a global wine brand, hence her love of wine. Luckily for us she loves children too, so visiting centres she finds an absolute joy. When not promoting Starex furniture and New Shoots Resources you can find her at a pilates class, hanging out with her boys or checking out the latest fashion.

Attractive, durable & affordable

Childcare centres need attractive, durable and affordable furniture. Starex has provided children's furniture for all my centres over the last 15 years.

Starex's service was invaluable, and I am always pleased with the result. They have a unique understanding for the early childhood centre furniture needs and provide a professional service.

The quality is designed and manufactured at the highest standard. Through every part of the process, from ordering to delivery I have received helpful solutions that exactly match the centres needs, excellent care and communication. Most importantly the children and teachers love their Starex furniture.